torsdag 27 juni 2013

Vegan reply to 'Vegans avoid the real problems of society - and the much more significant atrocities'

My reply to Kenneth, covering also the issue 'I am not a vegan/strict vegetarian because that human rights are more important than animal rights'

I think that everyone understand the moral difference between uprooting a plant and killing an animal. If we saw someone abusing an animal we would step in and protect the animal, if someone is stepping on, or cutting grass, or cutting down a tree, we don’t believe this is harming any sentient being.

Eating animals is morally wrong, because it inflicts unnecessary suffering and death upon sentient beings. You already agree with the premise that it is morally wrong to inflict unnecessary suffering and death upon animals. The only reason that you don’t apply this to eating is because of cultural indoctrination.
“You can sit in a coffeehouse and avoid the real problems of society - and the much more significant atrocities that are ongoing”
I do certainly not ignore other problems of our society. Since I became a vegan I have actually become more aware of all the violence and discrimination in our society and I do more to fight against it compared to before.
There is no contradiction between fighting for human rights and fighting for animal rights. You go vegan and you choose not to inflict unnecessary suffering and death upon animals, you substitute your animal products with a vegan diet, etc. It is very easy. You can continue to fight for human rights. A vegan lifestyle is not limiting, and it is a necessity for an ethical lifestyle, and it is our moral obligation to the nonhuman animals.

Furthermore, while I believe that it is immoral to consume animal products, I do not judge peoples intentions and their character. For me it took almost 28 years to realize that the necessity and our moral obligation to be a vegan, and that consuming is unethical.

I don’t need a biological degree to understand that it is unethical to inflict unnecessary suffering and death upon animals; and I will certainly not accept justifications such as ‘other animals eats animals and we are at the top of the food chain’, since both those arguments are easily refutable.
Cheers and best wishes
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This is a reply to:
"Anders,
aside from photosynthesizing plants and bacteria, all life exists by
consuming other life - has this ever occurred to you? A vegan also is
extinguishing life in order to survive. I am sure you are a nice fellow
but do you even have an operational definition of the word 'moral'?
And then once you have that you decide to focus on carnivores and
omnivores as entire groups as being 'immoral'? That must feel very good
and certainly is convenient!
You can sit in a coffeehouse and avoid the real problems of society -
and the much more significant atrocities that are ongoing - all the
while feeling comfortable in your moral superiority! Hooray for you!
While you're sitting there feeling so good, maybe take the time and get a
biology degree, which is literally the study of life itself, and see
how the chain of life works. Cheers and best wishes."

About me

"“Thanksgiving dinner's sad and thankless. Christmas dinner's dark and blue. When you stop and try to see it From the turkey's point of view.
Sunday dinner isn't sunny. Easter feasts are just bad luck. When you see it from the viewpoint of a chicken or a duck.
Oh how I once loved tuna salad Pork and lobsters, lamb chops too Till I stopped and looked at dinner From the dinner's point of view.”
Shel Silverstein
"Animals do not 'give' their life to us, as the sugar-coated lie would have it . . . They struggle and fight to the last breath, just as we would do if we were in their place." [John Robbins]